I. CONTEMPT, WHEN IT IS UNREASONABLE, CAN BE BORNE. It is sometimes a mere product of malice and envy. There is no real ground for it, and we may know that there is no ground. We may properly cherish the consciousness of our power and worth; and then we can appraise the contempt of the envious at its true value, it cannot hurt us. The contempt is weak, it is not we who are weak. And the contempt will fail, not we. "What can harm you if ye be followers of that which is good?" The world despises the godly. It is no matter; the future is with the godly.

II. CONTEMPT, WHEN IT IS REASONABLE, IS PAINFULLY DEPRESSING. Because it exaggerates our own sense of weakness, and so still further weakens us. Our sense of disability and insufficiency is oftentimes a great distress to us, and makes the struggle of life too hard for us. Precisely what we need is some sign of confidence, some kindly encouraging word, the cheer of some one who can see things more hopefully than we can. Consequently, we feel all the more deeply when our weakness is only despised; we hear loud and confident prophecies of our speedy failure, and men raise the laugh which crushes hearts more than open scorn. Then what can we do but turn from man to God? - R.T.

1. His eyes were reverentially fixed upon the Lord. He looked to God's hand, wherever it was, with deep reverence: "as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters." Travellers tell us that, when they go into the house of a wealthy person in the East, the master will give certain signs to his slaves, and refreshments are brought in; but, except when they are called, the servants stand at a distance, watching for the slightest motion of their master's hands; they do not have the liberties that we happily accord to our servants; but they are just nothing and nobody, mere tools for their master to use as he pleases. And, as to the maidens, I have heard that the women in the East have a harder time of it with their mistresses than the men do with their masters, and that the lady of the house is a more severe taskmaster than her husband is. So the maidens watch their mistresses very carefully, for they are sorely afraid of them, and they look with great care and fear to see what "Madam" would have them do. Now, casting aside everything of human fear out of the figure, this is the way in which we ought to look to God.

2. The truly sanctified man looks to God's hands with obedience as well as with reverence. Orientals, as a general rule, speak far less than we do, except when they sit around the fire, at eventide, and tell their tales. But an Eastern master seldom speaks. A gentleman went, some time ago, into an Eastern house, and as soon as ever he entered, the master waved his hand, and the servants brought in sherbet. He waved his hand again, and they brought dried fruits; then he moved his hands in a different way, and they begun to spread the table; and, all the time, not a word was spoken, but they perfectly understood the motion of his hand. They had to look sharply to see how the master moved his hand, so that they might do what that meson meant. We have not very much of that dumb action amongst us; but, on board a steamboat, you may see the captain moving his hands this way or that, and the call-boy is ready at once to pass the word down to those who are in charge of the engine. That is just how the child of God should watch the hand of God, in the Bible, and in providence, so as to do at once whatever he plainly perceives to be his Lord's will.

3. Then, also, our eyes should be absolutely fixed upon our Lord. The eyes of servants ought to be so directed to their masters that they not only see the sign, but obey it, whatever it means. It may be a very little thing, but yet the little thing should not be neglected. The smaller the matter is, the more careful we should be to attend to it, if it would please the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not be so clever, you servants who fancy that you know better than your Master, for perhaps He may find somebody else to be His servant if you behave like that. Suppose I was starting on a journey, early in the morning, and I said to my servant, "I should like a cup of coffee before I start," and suppose that, when I came down, she brought me a glass of cold water, I should ask her, "Why did you do that?" If she should reply, "Oh, sir, I thought that the water would be better for you than coffee!" I should say, "Well, I am very much obliged to you for thinking of me in that considerate way; but I shall have to engage another servant who does what she is told." So I advise you not to alter or judge God's Word, but obey it.

4. Our eyes are to be turned to the Lord solely. The Eastern servant is not allowed to think; it is no business of his to have his eyes upon his master's guests; they are to be fixed upon his master. And the maiden does not think it to be her business to watch the movements of the hand of the lady who calls to see her mistress; her eyes are to be on the hands of her mistress. She does not dare to take them off, for, perhaps, just when she is looking out of the window, or gazing in curiosity at some object, her mistress may be waving her hand, and she may not see it; and then there will be a serious scolding and possibly something worse when the mistress gets her alone. So you and I must not take our eyes off our God at any time; but His way, and His will must be our sole law; and for this we must live, that we may please Him whose servants we are, for has He not bought us with His precious blood? So we are not our own, we are "bought with a price."

( C. H. Spurgeon.)